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Insect swarms

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Tourists on a beach run through a swarm of pink locusts near Corralejo, on the Spanish Canary Island of Fuerteventura, in November 2004. Authorities in the Canaries issued alerts as swarms of locusts arrived from western Africa, with environmental experts estimating that some 100 million of the insects reached the Canaries.Carlos Guevara/Reuters

A plague of mosquitoes swarms over a city in central China after a sudden drop in temperatures saw millions of the critters take to the skies in November 2008. Workers spent days clearing up carcasses after the flying pests invaded Wuhan in Hubei Province and died within days. Many terrified residents were too scared to leave their homes when they saw huge clouds of the insects overhead. WENN/Newscom/File

A cloud of midges is seen over Lake Malawi, the third largest freshwater lake in Africa, on Dec. 28, 2008. Swarms of midges gather over Lake Malawi for mating during the rainy season between December and January.Xinhua/Photoshot/Newscom/File

Honeybees swarm on a honeycomb at Al Taryyaq farm in Jordan Valley on February 8. Jordan has introduced a modern laboratory to help protect the bee population from infectious diseases after an outbreak in 2008 decimated nearly half of the region’s bee hives, Jordan's Bee Research Unit director, Nizar Haddad, said. Ali Jarekji/Reuters

A swarm of ants moves on a concrete surface. Ant colonies with more than one queen may divide, with many ants following a queen to a new site. This behavior is similar to honeybee swarming.Newscom/File

Each year, tens of millions of Monarch butterflies travel more than 2,800 miles from Canada and the United States to spend the winter in the forests of Michoacan in the volcanic highlands of Mexico. For scientists, this unique migration is an enigma of nature.Sipa/Newscom/File

A desert locust swarm is seen in flight over Mauritania in 1994. Locusts can breed quickly, which increases their motivation to migrate. They can travel great distances, stripping fields and damaging crops along the way.Zuma/Newscom/File

A man walks through a locust swarm in North Africa.Newscom/File

An ant swarm guards its nest.Newscom/File

A swarm of milk bugs is seen on concrete.Newscom/File

A plague of gnats swarms over a city in central China in 2008.WENN/Newscom/File

While termite damage is more noticeable in some homes than others, spring termite swarms – typically the most visible sign of termite activity – have already started in the Southeast by mid-March. PRNewsFoto/Orkin/Newscom

Think of it as softness blended with strength: One research team has genetically engineered a silkworm that spins cocoons composed of about 95 percent silkworm proteins and 5 percent spider silk proteins. The composite silk is significantly stronger than regular silkworm silk and, researchers hope, as easy to produce in large quantities as regular silk.